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By the Night's Breeze
--- Shane yawned mightily, fidgeting with his reading glasses with one hand as he put a book back on the shelf with his other. Honestly, sometimes his job in the library wasn't the most exciting one. A group of students were chattering away happily in the background, their homework and books strewn out of in front of them. Out of the corner of his eye, however, Shane was pretty sure a couple of them had set their decks next to their assignments to occasionally shuffle through. He supposed it was a good idea; after all, one of the best weapons a duelist had was knowing their deck inside and out by heart. If you couldn't recite your deck from memory, in his opinion, that meant the deck was simply unmemorable and thus in need of a major retool. Memorable decks were effective decks. One of the Slifer students was now eyeing him as he continued to shelve books throughout the section, and he wondered what the kid wanted. It looked as if the boy wanted to speak to him, but wasn't sure about how best to approach him. Deciding to patient, Shane continued to work on his task, until eventually the young Slifer boy walked up to him. "Y-you're Shane Stryker, right? The guy with the awesome deck?" Grinning, the blonde nodded. "I am, indeed. How can I help you?" he asked warmly, doing his best not to come off as intimidating as other Obelisk students would. "Well, I was wondering... If you could maybe...give me some tips? I-I wanted to make an Elemental HERO deck, too, just like you, but... I'm not really sure how to do it right..." A bit taken aback, Shane paused, considering his answer carefully. The truth was, there were many different ways to build an Elemental HERO deck, not one of them was necessarily the right way to do it. "Hm... Let me see your deck for a minute?" The boy obliged him, handing his cards over to Shane. Narrowing his eyes in focus, the older boy thumbed through the deck carefully, taking a mental inventory of the cards in the deck. "Ah, okay. So, you're actually doing extremely well! I notice you took care to include some really versatile Fusions and you built the deck around and abilities, which should speed up its effectiveness insofar as your ability to pull Fusions is concerned. You do, however, have in your deck without his companion card. As it stands, Necroshade is just hanging out in your deck taking up space, and you can't really use him for anything. Combine him with this, however...and every card in your deck now has a purpose to work towards, and it should pack an extra punch." Rummaging through his backpack, which he kept stashed underneath the book cart, Shane searched for a particular card for a moment before finding it and handing it to the younger boy. "Here." Shane smiled at him brightly as he looked at the card, astonished to have received it. "Are...are you sure I can have this?" he asked meekly. "Absolutely," Shane replied. " will go nicely in your deck, and I got about three more copies of him stashed away still. Take it, I promise it's okay." Lighting up with glee, the boy thanked Shane enthusiastically before returning to his group of friends. Smiling to himself, Shane checked the time on his phone before realizing that he was now officially off. He shelved the last of the books, then returned the book cart to its usual assigned spot. Excitement was coursing him through, and a fire burned in his eyes as he headed out of the library, drawing his coat tighter around his frame to stave off the night's chill. Not wanting to keep his quarry waiting, he headed for the shores of the Academy's beaches. This was going to be good; it always was. As he approached the beach, he realized it was still empty. It was no matter, his friend was never late. Shane shoved his hands in his jean pockets, eyes fixing on the moon's reflection that danced atop the glassy ocean surface. The sound of waves was soothing, a familiar sound that would've lulled him to sleep if he'd let it. As it was, he was currently too wired to feel drowsy, anyway. Hair stood up on the back of his neck as the sound of footsteps, slightly muffled by the sand, reached his ears. Looking over his shoulder, he grinned widely. "Hey, Akky. Glad you could make it." Immediately, Shane pulled his backpack off and set it down, pulling his out of it. "You ready for this?" He fastened it to his wrist and activated it, setting his deck inside. ---- "Am I ever not?" The tall, dark skinned man replies, his activating, revealing its field. As the activation finishes, he set his deck inside. "As disadvantageous it may be, I'll begin the duel." Akhratan speaks, drawing five cards from his deck. First, I shall start this duel by setting one monster face down, then I'll set one card face down and end my turn." As he sets his cards down on the field, he eyes Shane, waiting for his opening move. ---- Shane studied his hand carefully. "I'll set two cards face down, myself, and summon Elemental HERO Bright Beacon in attack mode! With Bright Beacon's effect, I call forth Elemental HERO Overcharge in attack mode as well, and proceed to summon Elemental HERO Hurricane Breaker and thanks to Overcharge's own special effect. Sacrificing Bright Beacon, Hurricane Breaker, and Nightwalker, I'll summon Elemental HERO Brightstar in attack position! Hurricane Breaker lets me add a spell or trap card to my hand when sent to the Graveyard, so I choose , which I will now play to add to my hand! Bright Beacon's Graveyard effect allows me to call forth one Elemental HERO monster from my deck as long as it's level four or lower, so I call forth another Elemental HERO Overcharge, using his ability to pull Elemental HEROes and , using all three to call forth Elemental HERO Voidman to clear your back row! I then use to fuse the and the Shadow Mist that I have in my hand to bring forth ! Thanks to Shadow Mist, I believe I'll add to my hand...just to discard it and add twenty-five hundred attack points to Brightstar, bringing his total up to sixty-one hundred! I'll attack first with Voidman!" ---- "Someone's been busy with that deck of theirs." As he stands down, he lets Voidman destroy his face down monster, . Wide open, he places his hands in his pockets, his lifepoints being reduced to zero by Escuridao and Brightstar. ---- Exhaling deeply, Shane reshuffled all of his cards before deactivating his Duel Disk, sliding it back into the open backpack. He rubbed the back of his neck, smiling brightly. "Heh, I do what I can. I won some brand new cards, as I'm sure you noticed, over in the States during our break from school. Tournament. Beat the runner-up's Cyber Dragon deck when he thought he'd be real clever and use Limiter Removal on his Cyber End Dragon. Made him pay for it with Magic Cylinder, and he lost on the spot." It was a good thing he'd expected either Power Bond or Limiter Removal, and thus saved his Magic Cylinder until he needed it. Shane was quite proud of his new cards, however; it had taken some reworking of his deck, but he felt he'd fit them in beautifully. Eyeing his friend, he inquired, "How was your break, by the way? We didn't really have time to catch up properly, thanks to class and all." Akhratan was a mysterious guy, one that Shane sometimes felt a peculiar ancient aura around. He wondered if it had anything to do with the trying to tell him something; perhaps he'd have to remember to ask the next time he awakened the Necklace's power. Taking off his shoes and rolling up the bottoms of his jeans, Shane waded into the water, getting his feet wet. He turned back to face Akhratan, waiting for his friend's reply as his toes curled into the sand on the ocean's floor. ---- "It had its ups and downs. The ups were I got to test my deck outside of the Academy. The downs, were that it is hopelessly outdated. Even with its supports, Blue-Eyes has become obsolete. What was once one of the most feared decks so long ago is now little more than an artifact of an age long past. But I can't really do anything to expand it. It's got all the supports it needs, but there's newer and newer cards out there that render my every move useless. Even my old Parshath deck is starting to show its age, despite the new supports it got less than half a year ago. I feel like I'm starting to show my age, in a duelist perspective, and everyone is passing me by. How can I expect to keep up when my deck is a mere stepping stone for every up and comer that challenges me? I don't want to abandon this deck, nor my Parshath deck, but I'm running out of options." He replies, sitting down against the coarse sand as he looks up to the moon, before looking back down at his deck. Every now and then, it often feels like the deck speaks to him, a soft voice that breaks the silence whenever he focuses on the deck. He can feel the emotions coming through it, how they resonate with his own. ---- Shane wiggled his toes, listening carefully with a furrowed brow as Akhratan spoke. He tapped his chin thoughtfully as silence fell between them, choosing his next words deliberately. "You know... In a way, I think I kinda understand what you're feeling. I was going through that not too long ago with my HERO deck, because before I got my hands on these cards, ya know... The support kept getting updated and then outdated. Pretty much any well-built modern deck could give mine fits before I won these. So... I know what you mean." He also understood Akhratan's attachment to his Blue-Eyes and Parshath cards, since he himself had been attached to the HEROes for years. They'd been his favorite since childhood, a reminder of what he wanted to be more than anything: strong, brave, wise, and kind, just like a hero. "Hm... You know, maybe there's a way to build around both Parshath and Blue-Eyes. You could bolster the flexiblity of Blue-Eyes with Clear-Eyes, something like that. Oh yeah, I forgot. Catch." Reaching into his pocket, Shane pulled out a card and tossed it at his friend. "A little something that was in the haul I won. Got a few copies of it, so consider it a token of our friendship." ---- Catching the card, he looks down at it, seeing the name of it and its effects. Nodding his head, he lets out a smile as he takes out two cards from the deck, and , before putting it in the deck. Reaching from his pocket, he pulls out another card. "This card was given to me by one of the only duelists I've won against during this break. Her name was Eatos, and she plays a mean deck. I don't know how I managed to beat her, but it was close. I've convinced her to join the Academy, and she should be showing up as early as tomorrow." Akhratan speaks up, looking down at the card as it seems to resonate with him. As he finishes gazing at it, he shows it to Shane, revealing it to be . ---- "Oh, man. This card seems extremely useful, and...hey, it's a light attribute! I bet you could work this into your deck somehow. You could combo this with Blue-Eyes, or your Sacred Arch-Airknight Parshath! The possibilities are endless, and it would probably leave your opponent wide open for a counterattack!" Man, Shane was impressed by this card. Its utility seemed to be extremely high, and that always a great trait for a card to have. This card in particular, though, Goddess of Sweet Revenge...it genuinely seemed like the kind of card that could turn an entire Duel around in Akhratan's favor, especially if it was in his Parshath deck. "Damn. I mean, I gave a kid one of my extra copies of Bladedge earlier, but this tops that as a gift. Who even is this Eatos girl?" ---- "I don't know, but she runs perhaps one of the most destructive decks I've ever seen. It took a miracle to stop it once she got her two most dangerous monsters out on the field. Thankfully, she didn't really have much in the way of Counter Traps, and my Parshath deck helped paved the way through those two monsters of hers, leaving her wide open for Sacred-Arch Airknight Parshath to attack." Akhratan replies, looking towards the Parshath deck he keeps in a second deck container clasped onto his belt. "Her main deck only had forty cards, so there's definitely room for improvement, improvement she'll definitely find in Duel Academy. The way she duels, though, she's aggressive. She doesn't give you much room to breathe, and her monsters don't either. Her star monsters are extremely rare, , which can attack twice in a single battle phase if she was ritual summoned with just ritual monsters, and , which allows her to pay two thousand Lifepoints and basically have a Dark Hole that destroys the cards she wants to destroy. If it's summoned with ritual monsters, she doesn't need to pay Lifepoints. It's a dangerous deck, high risk, but dangerously high reward." Akhratan speaks up once more, placing Goddess of Sweet Revenge into his Blue-Eyes deck before placing it in its deck container and closing the clasp. ---- "I see. Your Sacred-Arch Airknight Parshath is hard to deal with," the blonde mused, his fingers running through his hair. He knew from experience, having tasted its wrath plenty of times thus far. In fact, Shane had never beaten Akhratan easily before that night. His new-and-improved deck must've been better than even he'd anticipated, and he'd been sure to comb through it carefully and think through its strengths and weaknesses logically. "Hm. I'd recommend she adds a couple cards to her deck that restore Life Points just in case she's in a tight spot and can't rely on having ritual monsters available to summon Demise. It'd give her a nice cushion to let Demise do its work. Solemn Wishes is a good choice, especially if she can manage to draw it early and build that Life Point lead." Falling quiet, he slid his hands into the pockets of his jeans, the gentle sea breeze toying with the collar on his coat. Increasingly, he felt the Millennium Necklace nagging at him, a sensation he'd already learned to associate with ancient magic. Shane had noticed of late that the more time he spent around Akhratan, the more insistent the Necklace was, like it was trying to tell him something. Caving to his instincts, he couldn't help but ask, "You have no memories, right, Akky? Like the past is lost to you?" Pausing, he looked down at the sea at his feet, watching as it gently lapped away at his toes. "I...haven't shown this to many people, but...I think somehow you'll understand." He pulled the neckline of his shirt down to reveal the Necklace lying underneath it, his eyes meeting his friend's. "The Millennium Necklace. I've befriended the spirit inside of it, and in turn, she lets me access its power, which is to look into both the future and the past. Maybe I could help you figure some things out. The only problem is that the Necklace is extremely powerful, and the spirit can't shield me from its energy for too long, so it drains me. I don't use its power unless I have to, but... If it could help you, I'll take its power as far as I can." ---- Akhratan had never really wondered about what was in his past, but there were very few times when the thought of seeing the life he once had intrigued him. It was in his dreams for as long as he could remember, but he could never put his finger on what the dreams meant. But having the opportunity to peer into the past, Akhratan feels it would give him some more insight on just what person he was long ago. "I wouldn't put you up to it if it was going to cause you harm. But these dreams continue to perplex me. I want to know if they truly are memories of my past and not merely something else." Akhratan speaks up, looking down at the sand. ---- "It won't cause me any pain, just exhaust me if I overdo it, that's all. No harm, no foul." Shane stepped out of the water, reaching for his shoes and shaking his feet off to get most of the water off of them. His socks still dampened as he pulled them back on, but he didn't care. Resolute in his decision, he slid his feet back into his shoes and moved to stand in front of Akhratan. "This might be a weird sensation without a connection to the Necklace," Shane warned. "I've never used its power to bring someone else through time with me before, but... I'm confident I can do it. Clear your mind, are you ready?" ---- "Yeah, I'm ready." Just in that moment, as Akhratan was ready to accept the vision, his begins to glow slightly. In that moment he hears a voice, once that was ancient, but at the same time familiar to him. In that moment, he sees a silhouette of a figure next to Shane. "Are you sure you want to do this, Akhratan? I'm supposed to protect you and the princess, and this could potentially hurt you. Are you positive that you want to see what the past lies before you?" The silhouette asks. Nodding his head, Akhratan looks towards the silhouette. "I need to find the answers that have been plaguing my dreams for a long time. I need to know what the past is hiding from me so I can prepare for the future." Reluctant to agree with him, the silhouette concedes and places his hand over Akhratan's shoulder as Akhratan clears his mind, ready for the visions of the past. ---- Isis...will you lend me your power, in order to help a friend? The spirit of the Millennium Necklace was a benevolent one, and he communicated with her often. He trusted her, and she trusted him in return. Alright, but let's be careful not to overextert yourself, shall we? The Necklace began to glow, while Shane focused his mind on a single question: where was Akhratan from? Knowing that would be a good place to start in putting together the puzzle that was Akhratan. Shane exhaled deeply as Isis lent him her energy, and suddenly a sensation of being pulled nearly threw him off balance. The world before his eyes was nothing but a blur, visions of centuries of human history all melding together as part of some chaotic whirlwind. As it settled, the world around them took form, and they were inside an Ancient Egyptian palace. It was fit for pharaohs, it was so beautiful and exorbitant. "Nobody can sense us," Shane assured his friend, his eyes fixed on the scene before them. A group of guards surrounded a lone figure, a young man who the blonde instantly recognized as Akhratan himself. One of the guards barked something in a language Shane assumed was Coptic. He said, 'Kneel before us, insolent confidante of the princess, and you will give us the information we seek.' Isis's translation was rather timely, he had to admit. The situation seemed dire and his first instinct was to help, especially since it was Akhratan, but he knew better, since the past was beyond his reach, defiantly immune to alteration. He coud only watch the past from afar in amazement. ---- "I kneel only to the princess! And as I serve only her, I remain silent, even to you." The past Akhratan replies. As the guards of the council physically torture him, he remains steadfast, even as the blows rain down upon him. As Akhratan watches on, he feels a sense of dread, and that's when a fragment of memory hits him. "This was when the Princess's council was trying to extract information from me about her illicit lover. I remained silent, as he was a close friend of mine. But it wasn't enough." As Akhratan finishes his sentence, he sees one of the council guards take hold of a and places it against Akhratan's forehead. As he screams out in agony, the council walks away, his body falling over lifeless. But as if time itself sped up, a sudden burst of dark energy surged all around the room, and his lifeless body awoken from death, a soul piercing scream emerging from him as his body endures the pain of the torture once again. Closing his eye tightly, Akhratan averts his gaze away from his past self. Feeling that he had seen enough, the silhouette from Akhratan's Millennium Eye ends the vision, returning Shane and Akhratan back to the present period.